A D&D update.

We played last night. Our new player is actually new to our area as well. He said he's played RPGs in the past and has enjoyed playing/GMing Deadlands and may run a short campaign for us in the future, woot! I might get to be a player.

One other nice thing is that I think our new player will add some thought and analysis to the situations and story. In the one combat we were able to finish last night, he thought to use a brazier bowl filled with burning oil. He dumped it over on a monster doing some damage to it and also created a terrain hazard for a couple of rounds in a patch of burning oil. I had planned on having the monster use a similar tactic if the other characters happened to get closer together.

I hope this inspires the other players to see some of the terrain as tools to be used in an encounter as well. I think that I may be to blame for the lack of "outside the box" thinking of the existing players. I feel that I haven't put enough of these types of challenges into my game up till now. I'll be trying to add the extra elements to an encounter going forward instead of the somewhat stale room(s) with monsters.

This current dungeon is the first that I am putting together for 4th edition, up till now I had used the "Keep on the Shadowfell" module. Since this module was the first published by WoTC for 4th edition I think that it is very basic and was more designed to introduce the system and some simple combat scenarios. My first room in this dungeon was a fairly basic affair with an attached room that allowed me to add some additional monsters part way through the combat. I didn't forsee the players deciding to clump up in the entrance hall though so it was another static combat encounter. What I did with the second room was ensure that they would have to deal with monsters coming from two directions, as well as adding some additional props.

Next week they will get a chance to meet with my latest creation which should add some movement challenges as well as throwing a second combat immediately following the first. I'll let you know how it goes.